Last night was the season finale of the long-running newsmagazine 60 Minutes and much of the attention about upcoming changes on the show has focused on the exit of Anderson Cooper, and whether or not some other current correspondents such as Lesley Stahl and Sharyn Alfonso will return next fall.
While Cooper isn’t returning my calls, I wrote a couple of pieces about the show late last year which put me on the radar of a number of current and former employees of the show. Over the past couple of weeks, I have spoken more (or emailed) with around ten people have shared their thoughts about the expected changes to the show.
Many of them were shared off-the-record, but here are a few comments I was allowed to share with attribution. Because, well, they don’t want get fired:
“I don’t think it’s crazy to want to change some things on the show. I love Lesley, but there’s a valid argument to be made that having an 84-year-old on the air isn’t ideal. But I don’t get a sense there’s been any real effort to find newer faces that have the combination of deep reporting experience and likeability you need to be successful here”
“I’ve seen a lot of comments in the press along the lines of ‘Why would they mess with this show that’s very popular already?’ I initially thought it was driven by wanting to make the show more conservative….whatever that means. But after talking to people around Bari, I’m convinced they really believe the audience will be bigger if they skew the show to the right…..It’s disconcerting to deal with news executives who live in a very specific bubble.”
“I just have this existential dread about what is in store for us. When you look at what Bari has done at the Evening News, it’s this scary combination of politics and incompetence. If the captain of the Titanic climbed into your rowboat and wanted to steer, you’d probably be wise to say ‘Maybe you should sit this one out’”
“I’m going to wait and see what happens. I don’t want to leave and I have this dumb optimism that probably won’t reflect what is coming. But I want things to go well. We’re proud of what all of us have built here. Also, I still need the job.”
Two Women Allege They Were Raped During The Filming Of ‘Married At First Sight UK’
Two women have alleged they were raped during the filming of Married at First Sight UK, one of Channel 4's biggest shows, and a third alleged she was subjected to a non-consensual sex act.
During interviews with the BBC News series Panorama, the women claimed the show did not do enough to protect them.
In the reality show, known as MAFS, single people "marry" strangers who they meet for the first time on their wedding day, though the marriages are not legally binding.
Channel 4 said it was presented with "serious allegations" in April against a small number of past contributors, which it understood were denied by those contributors. It said that when concerns related to contributor welfare were raised through existing welfare and production protocols, "prompt and appropriate action was taken."
According to the Panorama report, one woman said her onscreen "husband" raped her and threatened her with an acid attack.
She alleged that sex with her onscreen husband soon turned violent and she "kept saying stop."
She told Panorama she had been too scared to tell anyone. "He said that if I told anybody what had happened, that he would get someone to throw acid at me," she said.
Lawyers for CPL said the woman did not tell the company about her partner saying she "can’t say no" to him and that the acid-throwing remark had been reported as a passing comment, not a threat. They said CPL acted immediately once the woman felt unsafe.
I am no expert, but “I’ll have someone throw acid on you” sounds serious, even if it was a “passing remark.”
To be honest, I am surprised we don’t see more of these issues pop up with these instant marriage shows. And it’s worth remembering the contestants aren’t actually being legally married.
Media Billionaires Love Plowing Money Into Unsuccessful Podcasts
Joe Passantino in Status had a look over the weekend at the amount of money billionaires are pouring into independent conservative media. Even when they don’t draw much of an audience.
One example he uses is Katie Miller, the wife of Donald Trump's deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, whose podcast regularly draws an incredibly small audience, despite having a number of high-profile MAGA types on the show:
Yet, despite Miller's extraordinary access to the people now steering the federal government, her show has attracted fewer than 60,000 subscribers, a striking sign of how little organic interest there is in these carefully stage-managed sit-downs designed to launder the image of officials carrying out Trump's deeply unpopular agenda.
But Miller’s program has apparently become popular with one person, David Ellison, the billionaire Oracle scion who has used his father’s fortune to take control of Paramount and is now attempting to add Warner Bros. Discovery—and CNN—to his moguldom. On Thursday, Axios reported, in a piece so sanitized of context it initially failed to mention Katie Miller is married to one of Trump's most influential lieutenants, that Ellison’s Paramount was in talks to distribute her podcast. The Atlantic later revealed that Miller has been in talks with Paramount brass for months to sell her show, even courting administration officials for Ellison’s dinner last month "honoring the Trump White House."
I suppose that’s the definition of being too wealthy. Being willing (and even eager) to lose money just to make some political point or make your political allies feel better about themselves.
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It's Monday. Every department already has context. Nobody prepped anything.
Your CFO opens Slack. There's a weekly Stripe revenue recap in #finance with a churned-accounts flag and a net-new breakdown. She didn't ask for it.
Your head of product opens Slack. There's a GitHub summary in private channel: PRs merged, PRs stale, Linear tickets that moved. He didn't ask for it.
Your marketing lead opens Slack. There's a Google Ads performance comparison in private channel, with a note: "Meta CPA crept up 18% this week. Might be worth pausing the broad match campaign." She didn't ask for it either.
All-hands at 10am. Everyone already knows the numbers. The meeting is about decisions, not catch-up.
That's what happens when one colleague works across every tool your company uses. Not one department's assistant. The whole company's coworker.
Viktor lives in Slack. Top 5 on Product Hunt, 130 comments. SOC 2 certified. Your data never trains models.
"Not only have we caught up on several months of work, we are automating manual tasks and expanding our operations to things previously not possible at scale." - Jesse Guarino, Director, Torque King 4x4
Odds & Sods
if you enjoy this newsletter and are looking some other great TV and media newsletters, this link takes you to a page where you can subscribe to one or more free newsletters from other members of the Television Critics Association (TCA). There are a wide variety of approaches, but I’m sure you’ll find something useful.
Tubi has picked up the American streaming rights to the new animated series Yokoso Scooby-Doo!, the first anime series in the history of the franchise. The show will air on the Cartoon Network outside of the U.S. Here is the official logline: "Yokoso Scooby-Doo! will follow Shaggy and Scooby as they visit Japan on the ultimate foodie adventure. While there, they unwittingly unleash hundreds of mythical monsters that are causing trouble across the country. With the help of Scooby’s uncle, Daisuke-Doo, along with new friends, magical girl Yume and gadget whiz Takumi, the group embarks on an all-new mystery filled with monster chasing and fun chaos."
Mendota Heights Minnesota-based fiberglass sculpture company TivoliToo is clearing out about 1,500 pieces and selling 'em online. It is a pop culture lovers delight and most of the items are still selling for under $100. There are sculptures of well-known characters from Ronald McDonald and the Snoopy Gang to an impressive collection of items based on the movie Cars, along with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and random items such as a raccoon-themed trash can lid sculpture.
Iron Lung, the horror feature film from filmmaker and content creator Markiplier, will debut on YouTube on May 31st after a successful theatrical run.
The new series Adventure Time: Side Quests premieres Monday, June 29th on Hulu.
In a recent edition of his Bastard Machine newsletter, iconic TV critic Tim Goodman shared a couple of things about Stephen Colbert worth checking out: this 2013 piece for The Hollywood Reporter in which he argued Colbert should David Letterman’s replacement (written before Letterman had announced he was retiring); and this incredibly fascinating 2005 interview Goodman did with then-Daily Show correspondent Stephen Colbert.
FX has picked up to series Very Young Frankenstein, a comedy based on the hit Mel Brooks series Young Frankenstein.
In her newsletter Nina Watches Everything, Nina Metz takes a look at television’s obsession with Copaganda. While I have no data to back up my theory, my sense is that “police are great” shows are popular on broadcast television because of the much older demographic, who tend to be more pro-law enforcement. It’s the same reason why the hokey Dragnet was so popular in the midst of the ant-Vietnam War protests.
The new Green Lantern series Lanterns will premiere Sunday, August 16th on HBO. Here is a look at the new trailer.
About That ‘Song Exploder’ Netflix Series
Kevin Alexander's On Repeat Records newsletter is always a fun read and he recently spoke with Hrishikesh Hirway, who is releasing his first solo album in over a decade.
Hirway is probably best known for his Song Exploder podcast, which was also briefly a Netflix series. And he has an interesting perspective about why the show ultimately didn't work:
What did the TV version let you do that the podcast never could?
I’d almost frame it the other way—what the TV version not allow me to do? And the answer is: control everything. It was a tremendously collaborative experience, and I was often confronted with smart ideas from smart people who disagreed with me. Often what they were arguing for was to let the episodes feel a little more loose, to let some air into the scenes. And I had to recognize that they were right. And then, some of that carried over to my music in important ways: letting other people in by co-writing, and letting go of control by recording the album live.
What was lost, if anything, when you translated the format to television?
I don’t know if it was ‘lost’ exactly, but the ultimate point of the show, to me, is to listen to music more deeply. With a podcast, I imagine (hopefully) people listening intently, in headphones, hearing all the subtle details of both the music and the story. I don’t know if that actually happens that often, but with audio-only format, at least the only thing to pay attention to is what you’re hearing. With TV, I’m not sure if people pay attention to listening in quite the same way. Then again, it seems like everyone is multitasking all the time anyway, so who knows if that attention would ever be possible!
What’s Coming Tonight And Tomorrow
MONDAY, MAY 18TH, 2026:
Antiques Roadshow Season Thirty Finale (PBS)
CIA Season One Finale (CBS)
FBI Season Eight Finale (CBS)
History's Greatest Mysteries Season Seven Finale (History)
History's Greatest Warriors Season One Finale (History)
Hollywood Demons Season Two Finale (Investigation Discovery)
You're Killing Me Series Premiere (Acorn TV)
TUESDAY, MAY 19TH, 2026:American Masters: W.E.B. DuBois: Rebel With A Cause (PBS)
Baylen Out Loud Season Premiere (TLC)
Forever Young: A Grammy Salute To Rod Stewart Live (CBS)
In The City Series Premiere (Bravo)
The Secret Of Skinwalker Ranch Season Premiere (History)
Wanda Sykes: Legacy (Netflix)